


Together

by Scribbles97



Series: Post Episode Ficlets [31]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Aunt Val, Post Episode Fic, break out - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 03:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22349575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribbles97/pseuds/Scribbles97
Summary: Scott gets a little reminder that the boys don't have to find their father alone.
Series: Post Episode Ficlets [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/572851
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Together

Val Casey had spent hours reviewing the footage Penleope had given her, not quite believing that she hadn’t seen it before and hadn’t thought down the line of enquiry earlier. She had vowed to do anything to help find Jeff, one of her oldest and dearest friends. It had been so long though, too many years for him to possibly still be out there. The Jeff Tracy she knew would have been home the next day, laughing as he yelled ‘gotcha’ and making some ridiculous story up about how he got away.

All she had wanted was the slightest chance at being able to hope that he wasn’t dead. 

So why hadn’t they told her?

It was late by the time she landed on Tracy Island, most of the residents would no doubt be sleeping after the days events. She took her time on post flight checks, pausing every now and again to look to the ships that she had watched come to life so long ago. 

International Rescue had been such a big thing for Jeff, she could remember his passion as he told her of his plans to save those that would otherwise have no hope. At first the notion had seemed ridiculous to her, far too grand for one man to take on. Jeff had always been a stubborn man though, not one to let ideas go in a hurry. Before she had known it, he had purchased the island, started excavation of the grand hangar she was sat in. 

There had been arguments over the boys involvement, concern and worry for her god-sons lives put up against their want to be involved and Jeff’s insistence that he hadn’t made the decision lightly. Their involvement still scared her. The risks their lives were put at on a daily basis, the chances they took for others, she worried would become too much, that one day their luck would run out. 

“You gonna sit in there all night Aunt Val?” Scott’s call came across the radio, “Or did you want something?”

Snapped from her thoughts, she quickly finished the last few checks before climbing from her craft.

Scott was leaning against a supplies crate, arms folded and lips pressed thin as he watched her approach. She raised an eyebrow at him, stopping just a few feet away with hands on her hips. The man before her was intelligent, she knew that he knew why she was there. He wouldn’t be Jeffs son if he hadn’t come to some sensible assumption.

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

Scott straightened, taking a heavy breath as he drew himself up, “There is still a mole inside the GDF.”

“Outside of the GDF Scott,” She snapped at him, “I could have come here! We could have met elsewhere! Do you not think that I might have appreciated the update? That I might have wanted to assist in this operation?”

Steely blue eyes met brown, but the boy she had watched become a man didn’t scare her. She had known Scott since the day he was born, had seen him running around in diapers and picking his nose. He might have grown and matured, but the tone in his voice was the same as his fathers and one she was well versed in tackling. 

“We decided to keep it within International Rescue.” He told her, a statement leaving little room for questions. 

Folding her arms she nodded once at him, “And what about when you all vanish off of the earth for an extended period? Where will the GDF be then Scott?”

“We are making plans.”

“Plans that I should be involved in!” She persisted. Scott was his father’s son, always one to skirt around the facts when they didn’t have full answers. Either way, she knew she wouldn’t get any more out of him in relation to however he planned on rescuing the world whilst they went on their own salvage mission. 

Scott was on the edge, far too straight and tense for him to only be defending his decisions. There was something more going on, something she had been missing for a while, something that she was going to find out.

“What’s going on Scott? You’re going to the far reaches of space based on what? Some hope from some footage? Where did this even come from?”

“It’s…” he sighed with a shrug, “...complicated.”

She was at her wits end but she could see Scott was starting to stumble, those protective barriers failing. 

“Then let me  _ help _ .” She pleaded, “Scott, why are you putting all this on yourself? Your brothers?” 

Hurt marred his face as his eyes met hers again, she could see the shine of tears that he tried to blink away as he shook his head. 

“Because we don’t  _ know _ anymore, okay?” He yelled, “We don’t know who we can trust. Who’s going to help us. I don’t even know if this is going to work! Or…” his voice caught, breaking as his whole body collapsed to lean fully on the crate, “...or what we might find when we get there.”

Her own shoulders fell in sympathy. She had to close the distance between them, reaching out to Scott’s hunched shoulder to give a gentle squeeze. This was what was wrong, the oldest of the five had been leader for so long, he was desperate to hand the controls back to the family’s rightful commander. The possibility of things going wrong before they found Jeff, or even once they did, she could imagine was playing hell on Scott’s mind. 

“Your dad wouldn’t expect you to take all this on alone.” She murmured, tilting her head to look at him.

His sniff made him sound young as he shook his head, “I can’t fail him Aunt Val. I just  _ can’t _ .”

Catching him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tucking him into her like the lost child he was. 

“You’re not going to fail him,” She murmured as she rocked him gently, “Your father would never say you could fail him.”

He pulled away, eyes red rimmed as he wiped at them with his sleeve. She could see he was avoiding her gaze, no doubt embarrassed by the sudden outburst. 

“There’s all these what ifs,” He whispered, eyes distant as he sunk down to the floor, propped up by the crate, “and I don’t-- if this goes wrong… what if they all blame me?”

Easing herself down beside him, Val rested her hand on his knee. Scott had grown so much as a man whilst Jeff had been gone, he hardly ever pushed in the way he once had done when he had first started out as commander. Yet she could see that same determination, the same need for things to be done had snuck back in, masking itself with the desperate want for his father to come home. 

“Nobody’s going to blame you Scotty,” She sighed, wanting to wrap him up again and protect the boy from the world, “I wish I could tell you what is going to happen, but we just don’t know at this point,”

A sniff and a nod from him confirmed he was listening as he leant into her touch.

“But,” She continued, “whatever happens, we’ll figure it out. We worked things out when your dad went away, and whatever happens now, we can work out again,” 

She waited for him to look up to her, eyes wide and glistening,

“Together Scotty.”

His smile was small and didn’t seem entirely convinced, but at least he nodded in agreement, taking her hand as he took a breath and squeezed tight, “Together.”


End file.
